A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde told BCI chairperson Manan Mishra that the body requires to act in view of what is being noticed in the law colleges across the country.

Illustration by Mir Suhail/News18.com

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday urged the Bar Council of India to be "more vigilant" and make inspection of the law colleges to ascertain the standards of legal education and best practices.

A bench headed by Justice SA Bobde told BCI chairperson Manan Mishra that the body requires to act in view of what is being noticed in the law colleges across the country.

"We want you to be more vigilant. Legal education is going on the way those in the power in these colleges want to," the bench told Mishra.

While Mishra responded that the Bar Council have been taking steps, the top court observed that there appears to be lack of physical verification and inspections.

"There is nobody or authority which is actually making inspections and pulling them up for deficiencies. You may have prescribed standards but are you inspecting them? Does anybody go and see what actually is happening in these colleges?" asked the bench.

It told Mishra that the Supreme Court is not going to act as the supervisory body for these colleges despite all kinds of cases relating to law colleges pending before it.

"You have the powers and the duty under the statute. You have to do it," the court told the BCI chairperson.

Mishra submitted that the BCI would pay heed to the suggestion coming from the bench.

The court was hearing a matter relating to a plea for having a permanent body to conduct combined entrance exams for all law colleges across the country.